Surrender the Pen

We like control. We have trusted our very souls and eternity to Jesus Christ, yet we so often question his plan for our day to day.

We thank God for writing our names in the Book of Life, and then we grab the pen back, scribbling lists and plans all over the blank pages of our lives before He has the chance to write anything we disapprove of.

He can fill in the blanks when the details get too complicated to figure out ourselves.

We’ve got this. God gave us brains so we could use them, right? Besides, He’s so busy, He probably really appreciates our help. I can just hear Him breathing a sigh of relief when He realizes we’ve got it all figured out for Him. Phew!

God helps those who help themselves, as we like to say. Doesn’t it say that in the Bible somewhere? No? 

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these? Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:26-34)

Or. Maybe it’s easier for us to spend hours devoted to planning and worry and super-Christian techniques, than it is to spend hours devoted to prayer and listening and letting Him reveal His perfect work.

It’s harder to trust Him. To let Him lead. To Let Him strategize and fight the battles and open up the Red Sea while we stand back and watch. To let Him get the glory for great things done. 

We want the glory. We want the credit. The praise.

And so, we stress and fret and sweat as we scratch away on the page, crossing out our mistakes and begging Him to please work all of our plans out for good. Our good. Our way, because, don’t you see, God, this is the best way!

We forget that our Heavenly Father isn’t a mere blank-filler. He is the Author. We need only to surrender the pen and watch Him write.